Attitude and flight director display apparatus utilizing a cathode-ray tube having a polar raster

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for providing a contact analog display on a cathoderay tube representing the horizon, ground plane grid lines in perspective, and a runway or other flight path reference in perspective, by intensity modulating the electron beam of the cathode-ray tube while it traces out a spiral raster. Center reference indicia and flight director bars may be generated during the retrace time of the raster.

United States Patent Melvin G. Kramer Riverton, Wyo.

Oct. 8, 1969 Sept. I4, I97 I Sperry Rand Corporation Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee ATTITUDE AND FLIGHT DIRECTOR DISPLAY APPARATUS UTILIZING A CATHODE-RAY TUBE HAVING A POLAR RASTER 22 Claims, 39 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 340/27 NA, I78l6, 343/108 Int. Cl 608g 5/02 Field of Search I78/6.8,

DIG. 20; 340/27 NA, 3 C; 343/108 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,581,589 I/l952 Herbst I78/6.8 2,967,263 1/1961 Steinhauser 343/108 3,037,382 6/1962 Aid et al. 340/27 NA Primary Examinerl(athleen H. Clatfy Assistant Examiner.l an S. Black Attorney-S. C. Yeaton ABSTRACT: Apparatus for providing a contact analog display on a cathode-ray tube representing the horizon, ground plane grid lines in perspective, and a runway or other flight path reference in perspective, by intensity modulating the electron beam of the cathode-ray tube while it traces out a spiral raster. Center reference indicia and flight director bars may' be generated during the retrace time of the raster.

PATENTED saw 41% 3,605,083

sum 01 or 21 SQUARE WAVE 20 GENERATOR PHASE SHIFT ATLU 5 1 s VOLTAGE 25 CONTROLLED LOW PASS I SYMMETRICAL FILTER MITER RAMP RETRACE GENERATOR MONOSTABLE wt j b:

I/V VE/VTOI? MEL 6. Km: MEI? F|G.2. BY M ATTORNEY PATENTEDSEPMIHYI 3,605,083

saw 02 0F 21 PI- .1 -2 W W m POLARITY 46 A B SYNC. Low PASS F FILTER v 0 035 v DETECTOR BISTABLE I BUFFER FLIP FLOP FROM SQUARE wAvE GENERATOR TO VIDEO AMPLIFIER RAMP SYNC. 45

c F|G.5. HALF PERIOD 1 VOLTAGE RAMP COMPARATOR GENERATOR I 1 PULSE LIMIT I I VOLTAGE%A EB F 1 l/VVE/VTOI? F G 3 MELVIN 6. KRAMER ATTORNEY INTENSIFY BIPOLAR RoLL VOLTAGE A 1 Bl I l A 21 34 0 7: IN 3 ouT R t I E {I l PAIENIEII SEPT4I97| SHEEI as [1F 21 PITcH 47 20 189 48 suMMING SQUARE PQLAR AMPLIFIER l wAvE RASTER GENERATOR GENERATOR X I Y DEFLECTION DEFLECTION AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER I HORIZON 4 AMIIIEIER 1 GENERATOR TOTAL RASTER AREA CENTER OF CENTER I-I I-I IHHI INVENTOR OfP/VE) MELVl/V- 6. [0m MEI? E) CENTER OF RASTER PATENTEDSEPMISYI 3 05,083

SHEH 0? HF 21 FROM HORIZON AND 0 ROLL GENERATOR BUFFER CIRCUIT 4 6 59 AI\D Cl S El INvERsION VOLTAGE 1 AND 3 56 SUMMING COMPARATOR v GI I HALF PERIOD 57 NAND RAMP GATE 3 8' TO 55 VOLTAGE VIDEO SUMM'NG COMPARATOR AMP.

D s F INHIBIT PULSE 58 60 FROM FIG. 11 JJK/J- O KT 1 A l I K I 1 I O '\I I\ I\ C l I I I I I l l \l R:

l l I II l/l l/ll/H/ D O I 5 h I I II I l I II I i I I I I l l I I E u I TI I TI I I W i i I i I i i l l I F 1 l I l I r H- GI I i INVE/VTO/P MEL WW 6. KM ME/? PATENTEU SEP! 4 I97! saw 08 0F 21 PULSE nin MHIHH ll- I lll n I ll li: fi l ilwlli l A I HHHH Hw n U U m S Q U m .w... m m v m m m 2. L m

MEL w/v 6. KRAMER B) ATTORNEY PATENTEDSEPMIQII 1 3,605,083

SHEET 0911f 21 t1I1III1I1I1r ROLL GENERATOR VOLTAGE 0 OUTPUT L COMPARATOR PD U HI LF 6 6 I 9 CLIPPER ow PASS 0 NEGITIVE DIODES FILTER (SEE FIG. 1.) LO G IC I To GROUND S PLANE GRID RUNWA 65 GENERATOR FROM I NW8;

5 VOLTAGE PULSE COM PARATOR (SEE FIG.13.I FROM VOLTAGE CONTROLLED sYMMETRIcAL :l.[1fl[ll1[:..

LIMITER 61 b (SEE FIG 1 F l G. 1 7. [4QNQ/[Z v G INHIBIT O I v o b b INHIBIT A AREA INTENSIFIED RBEA AREA VOLTAGE f RSZSIXY COMPARATOR GENERATOR OUTPUT A 90 I I 91 f 5 V1 c N EGATIvE I BUFFER LOG'C AND NEGATIVE 2 LOGIC FROM RUNWAY OR GENERATOR B LOw PAss FROM 5 FILTER 66 94 OTHER LINE voLTAGE L cIRcuITs vI O EO COMPARATOR I I I I 50 92 {IN VIE/V701? MEL Vl/V 6. KRAMER PATENTEDSEPMIQYI 3505083 sum 11 HF 21 l l I I l |+P V24T- v l I I B I g i 1 l l 'l p I C L L] Ll AREA A I CENTER OF RASTER CENTER OF E' Q DISPLAY AREA 8 INTENSIFIED AREA VOLTAGE COMPARATOR 5 1 c P NEGATIVE BUFFER PHASE P LOGIC E SHIFT x AND FROM 02 113 TO OR RUNWAY CIRCUIT GENERATOR v 44 LOW PASS FILTER s 1 PHASE VOLTAGE B L SHIFT COMPARATOR /AV?T:RNEY

PATENTED 3mm 3505 083 sum 1n 0F 21 I RASTER CENTER DISPLAY CENTER -RASTER CENTER DISPLAY CENTER N D2 Em c N I IN VEA/ 70/? I MELv/A/ 6. KRAMER ELL-2.9; BY

PATENIEU SEP] 4 I97| HORIZONTAL BAR DISPLACEMENT REFERENCE VOLTAGE DEFLECTION Q VOLTAGE Y DEFLECTION O VOLTAGE SHEET 17 [1F 21 VERTICAL BAR DISPLACEMENT FIG.310.

RETRACE TIME nlnn PERIOD I L1 f UMU I VERTICAL I I BAR I DISPLACEMENT I VOLTAGE A l l v \./i

I/Vl/EN rm? MEL v/xv G. KRAMER PATENIED SEP I 4 I97! saw 19 or 21 FROM ROLL GENERATOR FILTER BLANK TO VIDEO AMPLIFIER A STABLE FROM RETRACE F ONE SHOT FIG.33 J.

W92? ATTORNEY 

1. In attitude display apparatus for a movable craft, cathode-ray tube means having a face on which a beam impinges for providing a display of the attitude of said craft, polar raster generating means for generating signals for spirally moving said cathode ray tube beam with respect to said face, means for providing signals representative of the attitude of said craft, and means including summing means coupled to said cathode-ray tube means and responsive to said polar raster generated signals and to said attitude signals for providing a realistic display of the attitude of said craft on said face.
 2. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 1 including horizon and roll generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means and to said summing means and responsive to roll attitude signals for providing a realistic display of the horizon and the roll attitude of said craft, said summing means being responsive to pitch attitude signals for providing a realistic display of the pitch attitude of said craft.
 3. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 1 including runway perspective generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means and to said summing means and responsive to runway defining signals for providing a realistic display of the runway in perspective, said summing means being responsive to heading error signals for positioning said runway display accordingly.
 4. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 1 including ground plane perspective generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means and said summing means and responsive to heading error signals for providing a realistic display of the ground plane in perspective.
 5. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 1 including flight director and center reference generating means coupled to said summing means and responsive to horizontal and vertical center reference signals for providing discrete flight director and center reference signals, and means coupled to said cathode-ray tube means for rendering said flight director and center reference signals effective during the raster retrace time.
 6. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 2 including runway perspective generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means, to said horizon and roll-generating means and to said summing means and adapted to be responsive to runway defining signals for providing a realistic display of the runway in perspective, runway perspective generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means and to said summing means and responsive to runway defining signals for providing a realistic display of the runway in perspective, said summing means being responsive to heading error signals for positioning said runway display accordingly, ground plane perspective generating means coupled to said polar raster generating means and said summing means and responsive to heading error signals for providing a realistic display of the ground plane in perspective, flight director and center reference generating means coupled to said summing means and responsive to horizontal and vertical center reference signals for providing discrete flight director and center reference signals, and means coupled to said cathode-ray tube means for rendering said flight director and center reference signals effective during the raster retrace time.
 7. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 1 in which said polar raster generating means includes square wave generating means for providing a square wave voltage signal, ramp-generating means for providing a ramp voltage signal, voltage controlled symmetrical limiting means responsive to said square wave and ramp signals for providing a modulated square wave signal, means including phase shift network means responsive to said modulated square wave signal for providing amplitude modulated sin and cos voltages to said summing means for generating said spiral scan.
 8. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 7 including raster interlace circuit means responsive to said ramp generating means for providing a ramp start position at one-half cycle of said square wave signal displaced every other sweep for providing an interlaced polar raster scan.
 9. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 2 in which said horizon and roll-generating means includes means for providing an intensifying pulse to intensify said beam for 180* out of each cycle of the beam deflection voltage, and means responsive to said intensifying pulse and said roll signal for varying the phase of said intensifying pulse to render half the raster visible depending upon the phase of the intensifying pulse relative to said deflection voltage to present aircraft roll attitude.
 10. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 9 in which said summing means responsive to said pitch attitude signals includes means for shifting said visible half of said raster up or down to present aircraft pitch attitude.
 11. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 3 in which said runway perspective generating means includes means responsive to runway angular width signals for providing an angular width intensify pulse, means responsive to runway phase signals for providing a rotation signal, means responsive to heading error signals for providing a displacement signal, means responsive to runway start and finish signals for providing start and finish exhibit signals, said runway perspective generating means being responsive to said angular width intensify pulse, rotation signal, displacement signal and said start and finish inhibit signals to provide a realistic polygonal-shaped runway display.
 12. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 3 including coordination means coupled to said summing means and responsive to said attitude signals for rotating said runway about the center of said display rather than the center of said spiral scan raster.
 13. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 4 in which said ground plane perspective generating means includes means for generating a plurality of intensified grid lines converging at a predetermined point with respect to said display.
 14. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 13 in which said ground plane perspective generating means includes means for generating a plurality of intensified parallel grid lines which intersect said converging grid lines to define said ground plane.
 15. In apparatus of the character recited in claim 14 in which said ground plane perspective generating means includes means responsive to signals defining other portions of said display for exhibiting portions of said ground plane display which would otherwise overlap said other portions of said display.
 16. A contact-analog attitude display apparatus for navigable craft comprising: a. a display media for a defined visible area for displaying position and attitude information, b. means coupled with said display media for generating a single point polar raster, the origin of said raster representing a single vanishing point relative to said craft, c. means connected with said generating means and responsive to the attitude of the craft relative to said point for modulating said polar raster to thereby render predetermined sectors of said polar raster visible whereby to inherently create a single point perspective display.
 17. The apparatus as set forth in claim 16 including further means responsive to the position and attitude of said craft for moving said polar raster origin relative to the visible area of said display media.
 18. The apparatus as set forth in claim 16 further including means coupled with said modulating means and responsive to the roll attitude of the craft for generating two light and dark sectors of substantially 180* each representing sky and ground areas respectively, the demarcation line therebetween representing the earth''s horizon.
 19. The apparatus as set forth in claim 18 further including means coupled with said modulating means for rendering narrow, ray-shaped sectors on said dark sector visible whereby to create ground plane perspective lines.
 20. The apparatus as set forth in claim 18 further including means responsive to the pitch attitude of the craft for displacing said polar raster origin relative to said visible area in accordance with the pitch attitude of the aircraft.
 21. The apparatus as set forth in claim 18 further including means responsive to the pitch and heading attitude of the craft for displacing said polar raster origin relative to said visible area in accordance with the pitch and heading attitude of the craft.
 22. The apparatus as set forth in claim 16 wherein said display media is a cathode ray tube, having deflection means and beam-producing means, wherein said visible area comprises the viewing surface of said tube, wherein said polar raster generating means comprises means coupled with said deflection means foR spirally moving said beam with respect to the cathode-ray tube face and wherein said modulating means comprises means for intensity modulating said beam producing means. 